There was no time for long goodbyes the next morning. Tarun awoke at sunrise, with the others joining him soon afterward. Though Shon was obviously the groggiest of the group, he still joined the others in packing up the campsite, and afterwards everyone sat down to a quiet breakfast of cold mutton from the night before.

Tarun had felt a rush of excitement the night before when Krall had proposed his plan to split up the group, but he also felt nervous for Shon, and a bit guilty for leaving his friend with Solimar. As Tarun thought more about the plan, he realized that this would be the first time in his memory that he had been away from Shon, and suddenly the mutton he was eating tasted a bit more dry.

Tarun wanted to talk to his friend in private before they parted ways, but thought it would be rude to pull him aside. As they sat eating, Tarun made an effort to establish eye contact with Shon, and then thought as directly as he could, Shon! Can you hear me?

Of course, Shon mentally replied, You don’t have to think so hard at me. Is everything all right?

That’s what I wanted to ask you, thought Tarun. Are you going to be all right with Solimar as your companion for two weeks?

I think so, Shon thought. Solimar doesn’t seem as bad as when we first met. I think I was being too harsh. Actually, I think I was being too harsh on everyone. These dragon hunters really are on our side. Besides, out of the whole group, Solimar is obviously the one with the most knowledge and experience with magic. Maybe I’ll pick something up.

Tarun and Shon continued eating their breakfast, and then Shon mentally asked Tarun, You’re not upset are you?

Why would I be? Tarun asked. He could feel the anxiety in Shon’s thought.

You were the one who wanted to learn about dragon hunting the most, but I’m the one doing the tracking with Solimar, Shon replied. I was afraid you would think I was stealing your glory or something.

Tarun chuckled, but immediately stopped when everyone turned to look at him. “What’s so funny?” Krall asked.

“Sorry, it’s nothing,” said Tarun, feeling embarrassed.

So you’re not mad? Shon asked a short time later.

Not at all, replied Tarun. I mean, I would love to learn how to track a dragon, but I’m sure that will come in time. Right now I’m just excited for the chance to spend some more time learning from Krall. Maybe he’ll even teach me how to make my own weapon out of Vedionite!

Shon smiled, and Tarun was glad he had remembered to use the name that Shon had come up with for the Dragon Stone.

Just then, Krall stood up, wiping his hands on his pants and letting out a light grunt. “Well,” said the orc, “are you two done saying your goodbyes? We’ve got a lot of road to travel today.”

Tarun and Shon looked at Krall surprised and tried to stammer out a reply. Eventually, Shon merely asked, “How did you know?”

“For one thing,” said Krall, “that may be the longest I’ve ever seen Shon sit quietly at one time. For another, nobody uses that much facial expression when all they’re doing is eating. Not even humans.”

“I’m sorry, Krall,” said Tarun, feeling very ashamed. “We didn’t mean to be so rude.”

Krall waved a hand at the comment. “No apology necessary,” he said. “I can appreciate the value of a private conversation. Just try not to make a habit out of it. For a minute I thought one of you might be choking.” Krall winked at Tarun, and his guilt immediately faded.

With the wagon loaded, and Shon and Solimar’s packs filled with gear, there was little left to be done other than head off in opposite directions. “We’ll see you back here in two weeks,” said Krall. “You two watch out for one another and be safe.”

With that, Solimar and Shon began walking back in the direction of Alderfold, while Krall led the wagon along with Tarun and Piggy heading north. None of them looked back.

***

Once on the main road, Krall let the tauroks determine their pace, which was very steady, if not particularly fast. Tarun and Krall walked beside the wagon, while Piggy rode along on the back of his boar. After about an hour, Tarun looked over and noticed that Piggy was slumped over on the bristly animal.

“Is Piggy asleep?” Tarun asked, with disbelief in his tone.

“Looks like it,” said Krall with a chuckle. “He does that sometimes when we have to head out early. He’s not much of a morning person.”

“I’m surprised he can sit on that boar at all, let alone sleep on it,” said Tarun.

“There’s a lot about Piggy that’s surprising,” Krall said. “You’ll get used to it. Especially when we start working with the Dragon Stone.”

“How long have you two been traveling together?” Tarun asked. “How did you first join up?”

“Solimar and I first met Piggy when we were hunting a dragon up near the border of Dragon Country,” Krall said. “It was a particularly ravenous dragon, and from what we’ve pieced together, we think it ate Piggy’s whole tribe and he was the only survivor. Every time we tried to sneak up on it while it was sleeping, Piggy would come charging in on his boar and drive it off again.”

“That sounds inconvenient,” said Tarun.

“You have no idea,” said Krall. “Solimar and I considered coming up with a plan to drive him off back to Dragon Country where he came from.”

“What stopped you?” Tarun asked.

“The fact that the dragon was actually fleeing him,” Krall said. “It made no sense. It was like a bear fleeing from an insect. That’s when we realized that he was actually able to hurt the dragon, as unbelievable as that was for a half-naked hairy little dwarf with no magic, no armor, and no battle plan.”

“We decided that instead of trying to drive him off, we would track him down and try to discover his secret,” Krall continued. “That first meeting between us was… eventful, to say the least. But eventually we were able to come to an understanding, he was able to teach us how to craft weapons with Dragon Stone, and we were able to help him get his revenge on that dragon.”

“How long ago was that?” asked Tarun.

“About four years ago,” replied Krall. “It was soon after Piggy started traveling with us that we decided to get a wagon to carry our gear. Especially since we started using Dragon Stone, which isn’t light. At first we tried to convince Piggy to let us hitch the wagon up to his boar, but he wasn’t happy about that. He treats that thing like his own brother.”

“A couple of days later, Piggy came into camp with two wild tauroks and hitched them up to the wagon,” Krall said. “Solimar and I thought he was crazy, but Piggy was persistent and he eventually got them to go in a straight line without stopping every five feet. He certainly does have a way with animals.”

“What about Solimar?” Tarun asked. “How did you two first meet?”

“That’s a much longer story to tell,” said Krall, and his smile immediately vanished. “First you have to understand I was a very different orc in those days. And I was not my own master, like I am today. Those were very dark days indeed.”

“I’m sorry,” Tarun said quickly. “I didn’t mean to bring up an unpleasant topic.”

“It’s alright,” Krall said. “It’s important for you to know. I’ve told you before that there’s evil in this world, and you should know just how bad it can be. My master back in those days was as close to evil incarnate as I can imagine.”

“If he was so bad, why did you choose to serve him?” Tarun asked.

“I didn’t have much of a choice,” Krall said, scratching an old itch on his wrists. “I was one of his slaves. My master was a powerful necromancer named Vdekshi.”

“A necromancer?” said Tarun.

“A practitioner of death magic,” said Krall. “He could reanimate dead bodies, summon spirits and undead beings, and even give supernatural attributes to living beings who served him willingly. Worst of all, he had the power to siphon the life force out of living creatures at the moment of their death.”

“Is that how he became so powerful?” Tarun asked.

“I believe so,” said Krall. “But I think there was something more than just power that motivated him. There was something wrong with him. It wasn’t just his mind that was evil, it was as if his whole body was corrupted by something inside. I watched him drain the life force of countless creatures, and it always seemed like he… needed it.”

“Like he was hungry for it?” Tarun asked.

“Perhaps,” said Krall, “but I don’t think so. It never seemed like he was satisfied after doing it, like you would be if you were hungry. Rather, he seemed almost relieved. As if he had postponed something terrible.”

Tarun and Krall continued to walk along in silence next to the green wagon. As they walked, Tarun heard the sound of Piggy snoring on his boar’s back and the squeaking rotation of the wagon wheels. He looked behind them and saw the long line of wagon tracks they left, even in the packed earth of their trail.

Tarun looked around at the bright sunshine falling on the trees and grass around them. There seemed to be a hundred different shades of green along their path. In the midst of such a bright and peaceful day filled with so much life, Tarun had a difficult time grasping the kind of death and darkness that Krall was describing.

“Did he have many slaves like you?” Tarun asked.

“Vdekshi had many slaves,” replied Krall, “but none like me. I was still somewhat young when his minions captured me. At the time they had captured some other orcs for slaves as well, but none of the others lasted very long.”

“Were they killed?” asked Tarun.

“Some were killed,” said Krall. “Some gave up their lives willingly to escape the constant nightmare of their existence with Vdekshi. Others became part of Vdekshi’s experiments.” Tarun noticed Krall’s shoulders give a slight shudder after his last sentence.

“What kind of experiments?” Tarun asked.

“Terrible ones,” said Krall. “They always involved pain, madness, death, and a strange purple liquid that he possessed. He never revealed where it came from, but he would administer it to all manner of creatures, animals, and even people to see how they would react. No matter what the creature or how big or strong it was, the result was always the same. An incredible burst of strength accompanied by an uncontrollable rage and unbearable pain, followed by an inevitable death. I once saw a human man break iron shackles, bend his cell bars, and knock over an undead ogre as he tried to flee after the poison was administered.”

“Wow,” said Tarun. “So did he escape?”

“He escaped the fortress that night,” said Krall, “but not the poison. I was sent out the next day to retrieve his body. The poor fool didn’t even make it out of sight of the fortress walls before his heart burst from the strain. Of course Vdekshi didn’t mind. It seems a heart isn’t all that vital for a reanimated corpse, so Vdekshi still got a slave out of the deal anyway.”

“If all the other living slaves died,” said Tarun, “why did you survive?”

“Because I wanted to live more than I wanted to escape,” said Krall. “And because I was very good at the job Vdekshi gave me.”

“What job was that?” Tarun asked.

“Hunting dragons of course,” Krall replied. “Vdekshi had the idea in his head that a dragon is the only creature capable of surviving a dose of his purple liquid, and he obsessed over the chance to experiment on a living one. Vdekshi may have had a sizable army of undead and supernatural servants, but dragons can smell that kind of foul magic a league away. That’s why he captured us orcs. He needed slaves who weren’t personally touched by his death magic to hunt the dragons and try to bring them in alive.”

“How many dragons did you hunt for him?” Tarun asked.

“More than I care to think about,” Krall replied darkly. “That was how I first met Solimar. Vdekshi had grown so desperate that he sent me up into Dragon Country to find him a dragon, despite the possible consequences for breaking the truce. Solimar belonged to one of the elf tribes that had tasked themselves with maintaining the border to Dragon Country and enforcing the truce. Our first meeting was… not a peaceful one.”

“Is Solimar the one who helped free you from Vdekshi?” Tarun asked.

“No,” said Krall. “My escape from Vdekshi’s power didn’t come until years later. Still, Solimar did play a direct role in making sure that one dragon I was hunting didn’t make it back to Vdekshi alive, and I’ll always be grateful for that. You see, for all the power Vdekshi had over me, I always managed to bring him dead dragon pieces and plausible excuses. I never did deliver a living dragon to him.”

“What do you think he would have done with it if he had gotten one?” asked Tarun.

Krall hung his head and let out a heavy sigh. “You know,” he said, “ever since I gained my freedom from Vdekshi, I thought I would never have to find that out. Now it looks like I was wrong.”

“What do you mean?” Tarun asked, feeling the hairs on his arms stand on end.

“You remember that cougar with the dragon’s quills in its leg?” Krall asked. “The one that attacked you and Shon, even though it was injured? You said the foam coming from its mouth was purple, didn’t you?”

Tarun felt an ominous chill run down his chest and settle in his stomach. “The poison?” he asked.

Krall nodded. “That’s why this hunt is so important to me,” Krall said. “It looks like Vdekshi finally got his dragon.”